Peasant with his hands behind his back.

During his lifetime, Rembrandt's extraordinary skills as a printmaker were the main source of his international fame. Unlike his oil paintings, prints travelled light and were relatively cheap. For this reason, they soon became very popular with collectors not only within, but also beyond the borders of the Netherlands. It also explains why, in later centuries, they were affordable for Bishop Ditlev Monrad, who donated this print to the Colonial Museum in 1869.

Art historians know that Rembrandt was inspired to make these studies after French artist Jacques Callot (1592-1635) - who is also represented in Te Papa's collection - published his earlier series of 25 prints devoted to beggars. Rembrandt also owned Callot etchings. But Rembrandt's beggars, drawn with a fine etching drypoint, don't look like Callot's more stylised images or his famed commedia dell'arte series of Italian street entertainers. They are more like drawings with light and dark rendering without color (chiaroscuro).

Rembrandt's meandering lines travel up, down and around his small figures like minute snail trails. Eventually they capture the beggars' worn and bent human postures. His latticed cross-hatching conveys shadowing, adding roundness to their bodies. He builds character by giving his small figures outlandish hats, quite likely to hide tidbits or trophies found or filched along their way.

This is one such early example, which the New Hollstein Rembrandt catalogue has dated to 1629, when the artist was aged just 23. According to New York Times critic Benjamin Ginnochio, this small, low-key etching hints at the greatness to come, adding 'Ragged' to its title. He believes it is 'distinguished by the fineness of  lines and greater subtlety of shading and tone' than Rembrandt's earliest recorded etchings.

This impression is from the sixth and final state of the etching; the first two are attributed to Rembrandt himself. We can identify its state from the cross-hatching on the back of the man’s neck, short horizontal strokes on his chin and short diagonal strokes on his cheekbone.

References: New Hollstein Dutch 23, 6th of 6 states; Hollstein Dutch 135, 4th of 4 states

See:

Benjamin Ginnochio, 'Oh, the Humanity', http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/nyregion/new-jersey/22artsnj.html?mcubz=3

 

Donald Miller, 'Rembrandt's etchings show a world of thoughtfully created characters', Naples Daily Times, http://archive.naplesnews.com/entertainment/rembrandts-etchings-show-a-world-of-thoughtfully-created-characters-ep-391935795-334581351.html/

 

Dr Mark Stocker    Curator, Historical International Art    September 2017